Sony A500 vs Sony A850

Below is a detailed analysis of the Sony A500 and Sony A850, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the latter is a Advanced DSLR and both of them are built by Sony. There exists a considerable gap between the sensor resolutions of the A500 (12MP) and A850 (25MP) and the A500 (APS-C) and A850 (Full frame) have different sensor sizing.

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The A500 was released 7 months prior to the A850 and they are both of a similar age. The two cameras feature different body design with the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony A850 being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before getting right into a full comparison, here is a simple summary of how the A500 matches up against the A850 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery photos for Sony Alpha DSLR-A500 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A850. The complete galleries are available at Sony A500 Gallery & Sony A850 Gallery.

For anybody who is intending to lug around your camera regularly, you will have to factor in its weight and measurements. The Sony A500 offers external dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs) and the Sony A850 has proportions of 156mm x 117mm x 82mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 3.2") with a weight of 895 grams (1.97 lbs).

Contrast the Sony A500 and Sony A850 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you have at the time. The following is a front view measurement comparison of the A500 vs the A850.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the A500 and A850 is 63 and 54 respectively.

Typically, it's hard to visualize the difference between sensor measurements merely by reading specs. The graphic underneath will provide you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the A500 and A850.

As you can plainly see, both the cameras come with different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The A500 because of its tinier sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF harder and the Sony A850 will offer you extra detail as a result of its extra 13MP. Higher resolution will also let you crop photographs a good deal more aggressively. The older A500 is going to be behind with regard to sensor tech.